Studio One Eighty 9
Studio One Eighty 9 Credit score: Courtesy $325SHOP IT
Studio One Eighty 9, created on my own and Abrima Erwiah, is a social enterprise based mostly in Accra, Ghana and New York Metropolis. Our mission is to make use of trend as an agent for social change and turning challenges on the bottom into alternatives. We offer employment and entry to schooling via workshops. We additionally merely give individuals the area to supply high-quality merchandise for our line and different manufacturers and the chance to promote within the open market. We work with artisans to create our non-public label, Studio One Eighty 9, which makes use of conventional strategies resembling hand batiking, pure plant based mostly indigo dyes, basket weaving, beading, and extra. We work with artisan communities all through Ghana and supply with communities in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Kenya primarily.
Our manufacturing unit in Accra was established in partnership with the United Nations Worldwide Commerce Middle’s Moral Trend Initiative. With our community of artisans and manufacturing capabilities, we’re in a position to assist different manufacturers create items in Africa. And lately, we have opened retailers in Accra, New York Metropolis, and on-line, which permits us to showcase the work of assorted African designers. The primary assortment was launched on February 14, 2013 in honor of One Billion Rising, a marketing campaign to finish violence in opposition to girls. Studio One Eighty 9 and the Trend Rising Basis was born out of a visit with V-Day in February 2011 that took us via Kenya, Burundi, and Rwanda to Bukavu within the Democratic Republic of Congo for the opening of the Metropolis of Pleasure.
KHOKHO
KHOKHO Credit score: Courtesy $495SHOP IT
KHOKHO is a superb instance of how artisanal craftsmanship married with high-end design can produce stunning, moral purses. Every bag is hand-woven by locals in Swaziland, utilizing conventional weaving strategies and naturally dyed supplies. The corporate was born after the founder Sapna Shah volunteered for the NEST Skilled Fellow program the place she collaborated with a women-led enterprise to assist elevate their baggage for a broader shopper.
SARAH’S BAG
SARAH'S BAG Credit score: Courtesy $550SHOP IT
These are a few of my favourite purses, and I lately found them whereas touring in Ghana this summer time. The designs are enjoyable and cheeky and can at all times get consideration with embroidered or hand-painted phrases, resembling, “Le Freak C’est Stylish,” or, “Like to Love You Child.” The model I’m coveting now could be the fake Walkman bag for its nostalgic-inducing high quality. However what I actually love about this model is their dedication to empowering underprivileged girls in Lebanon. They make use of over 200 individuals, a few of whom are presently incarcerated, ex-prisoners, or native girls in want of jobs. A number of of the prisoners have even used the cash they earned to overturn wrongful convictions! Like founder Sarah Beydoun, I imagine that empowering girls empowers communities and everybody ought to find out about and store these stunning artistic endeavors.
INDEGO AFRICA
INDEGO AFRICA Credit score: Courtesy $60SHOP IT
Recently, I’ve been attempting to include extra colour into my dwelling and got here throughout this model whereas scouring certainly one of my favourite moral retailers, maison-de-mode.com. Indego Africa consists of vibrant hand-woven cloth plateaus, beaded baskets, picket bowls, equipment, and attire. The gathering is designed in New York Metropolis, lending fashionable silhouettes to an indigenous product created by artisans in Rwanda and Ghana. Along with offering jobs for over 1,000 girls in these international locations, Indego Africa operates as a non-profit by investing all their income into teaching programs for the artisans.